This fall the Galway Downs International Three-Day Event will become the first event west of the Mississippi River to host a CCI***. Galway Downs, located in Temecula, Calif., has long hosted a CIC*** in March, but now the Fédération Equestre Internationale has granted organizer Robert Kellerhouse permission to add a CCI*** to the November three-day lineup, which already includes a training-level three-day event and a CCI* and CCI**.

“We’re very excited to bring this level of competition to Galway Downs, especially for our riders based here in the West. It might even prove to be a unique experience for some of the East Coast’s elite riders looking for an event with a West Coast flavor,” said Kellerhouse. “We’re in the process of designing and developing the new areas of the property where the CCI*** course will travel. Ian Stark, who’s designed our cross‐country course since 2007, and course builder Bert Wood and his crew are thinking of all kinds of ways to spend serious money to make this our best effort yet.”   

Olympic silver medalist Gina Miles, Atascadero, Calif., predicts that the new three-star will be a boon to West Coast riders.

“I see the addition of the CCI*** in California as similar to when Rolex Kentucky upgraded from a CCI*** to a CCI**** in 1998. Prior to that, riders had to make the huge commitment to travel to England to compete in a CCI****. Now that Kentucky is a CCI****, we have so many more four-star horses and riders,” said Miles.

“I think the same will happen in California. Riders who didn’t have the means to travel to the East Coast to contest a CCI*** will now have that opportunity, and we’ll see many more three-star riders on the West Coast,” Miles added.

Check back for The Chronicle’s coverage of the spring event, starting Friday, March 26.